46 Preface وَبَينَهُما حِجابٌ ۚ وَعَلَى الأَعرافِ رِجالٌ يَعرِفونَ كُلًّا بِسيماهُم ۚ وَنادَوا أَصحابَ الجَنَّةِ أَن سَلامٌ عَلَيكُم ۚ لَم يَدخُلوها وَهُم يَطمَعونَYusuf AliBetween them shall be a veil, and on the heights1 will be men who would know every one by his marks: they will call out to the Companions of the Garden, “peace on you”: they will not have entered, but they will have an assurance (thereof).This is a difficult passage, and Commentators have interpreted it in different ways. Three distinct schools of thought may be discerned in the interpretation. (1) One school thinks that the men on the Heights are Angels, or such men of exalted spiritual dignity (e.g., the great Prophets), as will be able to know the souls at sight as regards their spiritual worth: the Heights will be their exalted stations, from which they will welcome the righteous with a salutation of peace, even before the righteous have entered heaven; the salutation of peace being itself an assurance of salvation to those whom they salute. (2) Another school of thought thinks that the men on the Heights are such souls as are not decidedly on the side of merit or decidedly on the side of sin, but evenly balanced on a partition between heaven and hell. Their case is yet to be decided, but their salutation to the righteous is a wistful salutation, because they hope for God’s Mercy. (3) The third line of interpretation, with which I agree, is close to the first, with this exception, that the partition and the Heights are figurative. The higher souls will rejoice at the approaching salvation of the righteous.